Written Answers Tuesday 23 December 2008

Scottish Executive

Higher Education

Willie Coffey (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many university graduates, within a year of graduation, (a) took up employment in Scotland or (b) took up a post related to their field of study, in each of the last three years for which information is available.

Fiona Hyslop: (a) Information on destinations of qualifiers, six months after completing their course, is collected from the survey of Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) which is co-ordinated by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and administered by each higher education institution (HEI).

  Of those who responded to the survey 20,355 graduates from Scottish universities (including Scottish domiciled students from Open University), who graduated in the academic year 2006-07, took up employment in Scotland within six months of graduating. The corresponding figures for those graduating in 2005-06 and 2004-05 are 19,910 and 19,520 respectively.

  HESA reports overall response rates for the surveys of; 76%, 75% and 75% for 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07 respectively.

  The above figures have been rounded to the nearest five for data protection purposes.

  (b) This information is not held centrally.

Higher Education

Willie Coffey (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many university graduates left Scotland within a year of graduating in each of the last three years for which information is available.

Fiona Hyslop: Information on graduate destinations by location is only available from the Higher Education Statistics Agency’s (HESA) Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey (DLHE) for those who find employment.

  Of those graduates from Scottish universities (including Scottish domiciles at Open University), who graduated in the academic year 2006-07 and who were employed six months after graduating 4,325 (18%) reported in the survey that they were employed outside Scotland. The corresponding figures for those graduating in academic years 2005-06 and 2004-05 are 4,210 and 4,250 respectively. This includes students from outside Scotland who came to Scotland to study.

  HESA reports overall response rates for the surveys of; 76%, 75% and 75% for 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07 respectively.

  The above figure has been rounded to the nearest five for data protection purposes. Percentage figures are calculated from unrounded data and rounded to the nearest whole percent.

Higher Education

Willie Coffey (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many university graduates were in Scotland and unemployed, a year after graduating, in each of the last three years for which information is available.

Fiona Hyslop: Information on graduate destinations by location is only available from the Higher Education Statistics Agency’s (HESA) Destination of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) survey for those who find employment.

  Of all graduates from Scottish universities (including Scottish domiciles at Open University), who graduated in the academic year 2006-07 and completed the survey, 1,185 (4%) were believed to be unemployed six months after graduating. The corresponding figures for those graduating in academic years 2005-06 and 2004-05 are 1,320 and 1,355 respectively. We do not know whether those students remained in Scotland or not.

  HESA reports overall response rates for the surveys of; 76%, 75% and 75% for 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07 respectively.

  The above figures have been rounded to the nearest five for data protection purposes. Percentage figures are calculated from unrounded data and rounded to the nearest whole percent.

Justice

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many under 18-year-olds have been convicted of illegally carrying (a) knives or (b) other weapons in each year since 1990.

Kenny MacAskill: The available information is given in the following table.

  Persons Aged Under 18 with a charge proved for Carrying Knives or Offensive Weapons1 in Scottish Courts 1990-91 to 2006-07

  

 Year
 Having in a Public Place an Article with a Blade or Point2
 Possession of an Offensive Weapon3
 Total


 1990-91
 -
 205
 205


 1991-92
 -
 205
 205


 1992-93
 -
 239
 239


 1993-94
 25
 162
 187


 1994-95
 70
 134
 204


 1995-96
 123
 137
 260


 1996-97
 167
 181
 348


 1997-98
 151
 157
 308


 1998-99
 128
 153
 281


 1999-2000
 143
 180
 323


 2000-01
 138
 179
 317


 2001-02
 138
 208
 346


 2002-03
 141
 198
 339


 2003-04
 145
 196
 341


 2004-05
 161
 267
 428


 2005-06
 216
 290
 506


 2006-07
 183
 304
 487



  Notes:

  1. Where main offence.

  2. Crime category introduced following implementation of the Carrying of Knives etc (Scotland) Act 1993. Previously such offences were included under "possession of an offensive weapon".

  3. Knives cannot be identified separately from other types of offensive weapon in the data held for this crime.

Justice

Richard Baker (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners were interviewed by the Parole Board for Scotland in each of the last two years, broken down by month.

Kenny MacAskill: This is a matter for the Parole Board for Scotland which has provided the following information covering the last two years.

  

 Month
 No of Interviews
 Month
 No of Interviews


 January 2007
 45
 January 2008
 71


 February 2007
 58
 February 2008
 63


 March 2007
 58
 March 2008
 48


 April 2007
 39
 April 2008
 55


 May 2007
 47
 May 2008
 46


 June 2007
 38
 June 2008
 45


 July 2007
 39
 July 2008
 70


 August 2007
 58
 August 2008
 44


 September 2007
 45
 September 2008
 63


 October 2007
 82
 October 2008
 48


 November 2007
 50
 November 2008
 49


 December 2007
 42
 December 2008
 49


 Total
 601
 Total 
 651



  Student Finance

Justice

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has received from Edinburgh University Students’ Association regarding higher education and student funding and what action it is taking as a result.

Fiona Hyslop: The Scottish Government has received five letters from Edinburgh University Student’s Association (EUSA) with regards to student funding and in particular issues relating to student hardship.

  EUSA were also represented at the student summit which I held in April 2008. At this summit a number of concerns were raised by students’ representatives, including the proposal to move to a "minimum income guarantee", a policy which had previously been set out by NUS Scotland.

  On 15 December 2008 I launched the Scottish Government’s consultation paper on supporting learners in Higher Education: Supporting a Smarter Scotland. This paper sets out proposals to reform student support in Higher Education, including the option of moving towards a minimum income guarantee.

  Copies of the consultation paper have been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 47104) and can be found at www.scotland.gsi.gov.uk/consultations.

  This consultation will provide an opportunity for all interested parties, including EUSA and other student representatives, to set out what their priorities are for higher education. We will consider all responses to the consultation before making any decisions on which option we chose to pursue.